Think about a domain you are very interested and/or experienced in and then think about aspects of it that are economic – issues of supply and demand, cost and profit, inventory management, appreciation/depreciation of value, entrepreneurial strategy, etc. What problems do you see in that domain that could benefit from an analytic model? Think outside the box and don’t hesitate to contact me if you need help or if you want feedback from me
Introduction – describe the problem you are trying to solve (e.g., What/when should I buy and sell shares in Stock X based on historical data? When should inventory be put on sale?), with some descriiption of the topic domain (e.g., venture capitalism, clothing retail, restaurant management). Your problem should be rich enough to require a spreadsheet model and simulation or optimization.
Analytic Strategy – verbally describe your model/s of the problem, but also include an influence diagram and mathematical model, the assumptions your model/s make/s about the problem and the variables that are involved; also describe what data you will be using and how you will acquire it.
Findings and Implications – provide a visual model of the data and/or the model output/analytic results and a verbal explanation for what they mean to a decision maker faced with the problem you analyzed. If you had been hired by someone to consult on this problem, how you would advise them to act based on your findings.
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